Department of Computer Science

In addition to gaining the skills and knowledge of practical problem solving and software development, students are expected to be involved in the software development process at the company, supervised by a technical sponsor.

The department does not expect for the students to require any external funding. The only exception would be if the proposed project requires the use of specialized software for which the department does not have a readily available student license.

We do ask that our clients plan to have a person designated as the point-of-contact who will serve in an advising role and help mentor the students working on the project.

The department has an initial client interest form. In lieu of this form, interested parties can provide a 1-2 page "project proposal" document that broadly describes the project. Outside of the general project description, it may prove beneficial to address topics such as:

• Targeted audience.
  • An internal company application? Something that will be broadly accessible? etc.
• Current state of the project/version.
  • Is this a new/novel proposal? Building upon existing infrastructure?
• Anticipated development environment (technologies such as software/services).

The department (undergraduate program director, instructor and CPS advising director) will meet to discuss the scope and suitability of the proposed projects on a rolling basis and will remain in contact with all proposers.

In November, all department approved project proposals will be made available to the capstone students, who will then complete an interest form identifying which projects they are most interested in joining.

The CPS undergraduate director, in consultation with the capstone instructor(s) and CPS academic advisor(s), will assign projects and perform initial introductions.

We encourage all prospective clients to "pitch" their proposals to ensure the best engagement with our capstone students. The most effective way to do this is by creating a short video (1-3 minutes) that conveys key information about the project. Department representatives will reach out in October to remind prospective clients of this option and provide assistance with any technical issues.

As students progress through the semester, they will maintain constant communication with the instructor. They are expected to work on the project for 9-12 hours per week and provide weekly in-person updates to the instructor.

To ensure thorough documentation and adherence to industry-standard software design principles, there will be three major check-ins. During these check-ins, students must submit all work completed up to that point and demonstrate their technical writing skills by submitting a project report.

Additionally, students are expected to arrange regular meetings with a client representative, typically on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

• Lacie Stiffler, Instructor
• Nicholas Stiffler, Ph.D., Undergraduate Program Director
• Michael Poor, Chair

If you have additional questions, please reach out to us at CPS@udayton.edu.